Round 1 - Panthers Select Tetairoa McMillan at Pick 8

[CPcavedweller]

37 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

He's explained before that he feels "Tet" is disrespectful to his mother who named him.

And given how much their Polynesian heritage means to their family, my best guess is that the name has a deeper meaning to him and his family, so shortening it to something like that comes off as disrespectful to him/them.

Totally different than a diva like Shedeur.

Which is interesting. Teams claimed to be worried about Shadeurs measurables and arm strength. Some reason, I find that to be a cop out considering where Bryce Young was drafted. 
 

Sanders may get a lot of attention off the field and have his own interests, but I like his game. His stats against pressure are wild. He has all the tools you need to succeed. 
 

The fact he played as well as he did despite Colorado’s leading rusher having as many yards in 13 games as Jeanty had in 1.25 games is very telling. 
 

Meanwhile, we are over taking another giant receiver who was hand timed at 4.5 40 and can’t get off of press coverage. 

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, CPcavedweller said:

Right. You want a quick hitting offense to receivers who can get open. The personnel around Bryce would be much better suited to a power run game and deep play action which would, unironically, be better suited to a guy like Sam Darnold. 
 

Unless we draft another Theilen like guy later on, I truly don’t get it. 
 

I still want Skattebo though. Have a feeling I won’t get that wish either. 

Heck, call up the boys in Buffalo and get Curtis Samuel back for the cheap to be the slot.  Buffalo brought him in there but then Shakir blew up in the slot.  

Josh Allen got a legit bomb thrower for an arm.....yet you see Buffalo prioritizing that slot action.  Not sure why there is this weird quiet movement to stay away from that like it's insulting to Bryce Young. 

 

[amcoolio]

Day after...still a little shocked, I think its fairly obvious that the good teams take defensive studs... Falcons, Ravens, Eagles all got the guys I wanted and its like they just know who the pick and the Panthers don't...but I'm optimistic that Tetairoa can be a bonafide #1 which is what we need desperately. I'll be pulling for him. I think he's a better prospect than DJ Moore

[Jon Snow]

27 minutes ago, rodeo said:

There was no speedy X receiver in this draft. Golden is not a true X who is going to demand the safeties cheat over to his side and open up the offense. McMillan is that.

This is true. Now that I've had time to absorb what happened last night I do believe the Panthers made the right move. It has a 50/50 chance of working out for them so there's that. But if they don't do something about that defense they will not increase their win total for the season. 

[tukafan21]

3 minutes ago, amcoolio said:

Day after...still a little shocked, I think its fairly obvious that the good teams take defensive studs... Falcons, Ravens, Eagles all got the guys I wanted and its like they just know who the pick and the Panthers don't...but I'm optimistic that Tetairoa can be a bonafide #1 which is what we need desperately. I'll be pulling for him. I think he's a better prospect than DJ Moore

And in the past few years all those teams have heavily invested on the offensive side of the ball as the best offensive players hit free agency far less than defensive guys.  So you build up that offense, get your studs to put points on the board, and then shift to the defense.

Bijan, London, Penix, Pitts in Atlanta.  Lamar, Flowers, and some OL for the Ravens.  Hurts and Smith for the Eagles (and basically Brown too since they traded their 1st for him).

[tukafan21]

5 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

This is true. Now that I've had time to absorb what happened last night I do believe the Panthers made the right move. It has a 50/50 chance of working out for them so there's that. But if they don't do something about that defense they will not increase their win total for the season. 

This might sound bad/wrong/weird, but I don't really care about our win total this year.

We're not contending for a SB this year, so I'm less concerned about actually winning games as much as I am concerned about just seeing our players and staff improve year over year.

You can get better without actually winning games, it's why so many teams can go from having Top 10 picks for a handful of straight years and then jump right into contending in a year span.  

I've long said we need to look at the Lions the last 3-5 years.  They were terrible, then they started getting the right pieces and while they weren't actually winning games, they were changing their culture and their players were getting better.  They then went from just missing out of the playoffs to being in the conference championship game the next season and then earned the 1 seed the season after that.

Yes, I want to win games, but this year is still a building year, not a contending year.  So improvement even if the wins themselves don't come and it will be a successful season and could set us up for a really good 2026 with the right moves again next offseason to supplement the quality moves we've made the last couple offseasons. 

[Jon Snow]

24 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

This might sound bad/wrong/weird, but I don't really care about our win total this year.

We're not contending for a SB this year, so I'm less concerned about actually winning games as much as I am concerned about just seeing our players and staff improve year over year.

You can get better without actually winning games, it's why so many teams can go from having Top 10 picks for a handful of straight years and then jump right into contending in a year span.  

I've long said we need to look at the Lions the last 3-5 years.  They were terrible, then they started getting the right pieces and while they weren't actually winning games, they were changing their culture and their players were getting better.  They then went from just missing out of the playoffs to being in the conference championship game the next season and then earned the 1 seed the season after that.

Yes, I want to win games, but this year is still a building year, not a contending year.  So improvement even if the wins themselves don't come and it will be a successful season and could set us up for a really good 2026 with the right moves again next offseason to supplement the quality moves we've made the last couple offseasons. 

Dan and Dave cannot afford to go 5-12 again this year. God forbid they do worse.

[Navy_football]

6 hours ago, Icege said:

I don't particularly see T-Mac and XL as the same type of players.

• XL fits as the X since he's got the top-end speed to challenge the deep coverage, but could also play the Z as his route running has improved tremendously from college.
• T-Mac fits as the Z since he's got a more refined route tree already and can be put in motion to hide him from press, but could also play the X with his ability in contested catch situations and eat up yards after the catch with his long stride.
• Coker fits as a power slot that can also play the Z.
• AT is the slot king.

T-Mac's going to need to level up his run blocking, but as the Z he'll also often line up near the TE so he's gonna have help there if it's Tremble (if it's Sanders though... miiiight be best to run to the weak-side instead).

Agree with all. I think the point some are making is the slot king one. Sure Thielen can catch the ball, but he isn't doing anything after the catch. We don't make teams pay for blitzing. Young has developed into a high end blitz beater, but his receivers can't make one guy miss to make it a huge play. That's what they're missing. A quicker guy that can quickly beat the press, avoid contact at the line, catch the ball, and make his guy miss. In Cover 0/1, that's a big play. Possibly a housecall. A 50/50 guy in the RZ is huge too. So no discounting what T-Mac brings to the team. Just need Theilen's replacement/upgrade. 

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, ForJimmy said:

oh lol my bad.  I must have been counting a moral victory in my head...

His mom has a very nice basement. 

[tukafan21]

22 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

Dan and Dave cannot afford to go 5-12 again this year. God forbid they do worse.

Well I'm not sure the players and coaching can improve while doing worse, so yea, if we win less games, that's a bad sign.

But we very well could only improve to 6 or 7 wins, nothing major, but show significantly more improvement when looking at the tape itself.

So it depends on how you look at it.  Only improving by 1 or 2 wins might not be enough to satisfy the fan base's desire to get better, but fans are dumb and only look at things in the moment for the most part.  But I can absolutely see a situation where Tepper is pleased with Dan and Dave if the team shows improvement and a better overall culture.  

It's still only year 2 for them and this thing was never going to be fixed overnight.  Which is why I'm more concerned about actual improvement on the field over improvement in the win column this next season.  

Edited 4 hours ago by tukafan21

[jb2288]

4 hours ago, mrcompletely11 said:

no fuging way tet is a better prospect then thomas or ladd, come on man

I LOVED Ladd and still wish we got him last year but come on. Tet is a blue chip prospect. 

[Jon Snow]

5 minutes ago, tukafan21 said:

Well I'm not sure the players and coaching can improve while doing worse, so yea, if we win less games, that's a bad sign.

But we very well could only improve to 6 or 7 wins, nothing major, but show significantly more improvement when looking at the tape itself.

So it depends on how you look at it.  Only improving by 1 or 2 wins might not be enough to satisfy the fan base's desire to get better, but fans are dumb and only look at things in the moment for the most part.  But I can absolutely see a situation where Tepper is pleased with Dan and Dave if the team shows improvement and a better overall culture.  

It's still only year 2 for them and this thing was never going to be fixed overnight.  Which is why I'm more concerned about actual improvement on the field over improvement in the win column this next season.  

I'm not sure Dan and Dave have the luxury to slow walk this thing. That defense has got to drastically improve or this pick will not cover for them. Someone will be sacrificed and the heat will be turned on. Billionaire owns do not subscribe to long rebuilds, especially those over 75 years old. D&D have the same pressure regardless of who they drafted yesterday or today and tomorrow. The basement has been found and they better get out of it this season or the boo's will be back in force. 

[tukafan21]

7 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

I'm not sure Dan and Dave have the luxury to slow walk this thing. That defense has got to drastically improve or this pick will not cover for them. Someone will be sacrificed and the heat will be turned on. Billionaire owns do not subscribe to long rebuilds, especially those over 75 years old. D&D have the same pressure regardless of who they drafted yesterday or today and tomorrow. The basement has been found and they better get out of it this season or the boo's will be back in force. 

I get it, and while I know we've been stuck in a perpetual re-build for years now and fans and ownership wants results, I think Tepper has finally realized that we really were at rock bottom after 2023 and despite the record and defense, we did show a lot of improvement last year as a franchise, particularly the culture.

If we continue to improve there, I think it will appease Tepper enough to give them a 3rd year, and at that point, it's put up or shut up.

Also, it comes down to if we're still losing, why.

Because if Bryce just reverts back to his rookie year form, then I can also see Tepper realizing that it's not necessarily D&D's fault, but Fitt, Reich and crew who put them there.  Whether it will save D&D's jobs who knows, but it does add a wrinkle to the situation.

[Aussie Tank]

5 hours ago, mrcompletely11 said:

He would have been the 6th best wr last year, maybe 5th and we just took him at 8 overall.   We are in a bizarro world

Well the thing about this argument is that you loved Walker and I believe Verse was a better prospect and he went 19. Would that also make taking Walker at 8 bizzaro world?